Instagram, Facebook, Twitter lost 80% of Russian mobile traffic - minister

ST. PETERSBURG. June 16 (Interfax) - Meta Group's (designated as extremist and banned in Russia) Instagram and Facebook social media platforms, access to which has been blocked in Russia, and Twitter, also blocked in Russia, have lost 80% of mobile traffic, Russian Minister of Digital Development, Telecommunications and Mass Media Maksut Shadayev said.

"These three social media networks accounted for approximately 10%-12% of traffic [of the top four mobile operators]. The figures available to us show that only a fifth of this traffic went to VPN. They have lost 80% of traffic," Shadayev said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday.

YouTube retains first place in terms of mobile traffic, steadily accounting for 18% of the top four operators' traffic, the minister said. The share of TikTok, which accounted for over 12% of traffic in January-February, has dropped to less than 10%.

Meanwhile, Telegram's share of mobile traffic has more than doubled and currently stands at over 6%. The WhatsApp messenger's share of mobile traffic remains unchanged at less than 2%.

The VK social media platform's share of mobile traffic has increased by more than one-third and stands at over 10% today.